Tribal Art

Always represented sitting on a stool, this Bambara statue, with its piercing gaze, has a high "shell-shaped" chest. The hands placed in front form large flat areas, framing a narrow columnar bust. Beautiful golden brown patina alternating satin and velvety areas. Abrasions. Cracks and missing parts.
These female statues , or Bambara queens , Guandoudou , Gwandusu associated with fertility and fecundity, were surrounded by statues representing their servants, presenting offering cups or supporting their chest. The blacksmiths of the Dyo society, Djo or Do , used them every seven years during the fertility ritual. Infertile women then had to sacrifice a bird, wash the figures with a peanut soap, segue, then anoint them with shea oil. They also adorned them with necklaces to ...

Ovoid mask in which a heart-shaped face is inscribed, in which the almond-shaped eyelids adjoin a straight nose. Velvety patina of use, old residues of kaolin. This carving indicated the stage that its holder had reached within the Bwami, an apprenticeship society composed of different grades, and joined by wives whose spouses had reached the third level, that of the ngandu. Nice abraded, matte patina of use.
Within the Lega, the Bwami society open to men and women,organized social and political life. There were up to seven levels of initiation, each associated with emblems. Following their exodus from Uganda during the seventeenth century, the Lega settled on the west bank of the Lualaba River in the DRC. Also called Warega , these individuals live in self-contained ...

Small mortar for spices, pigments, or therapeutic ingredients. The object is carved with different faces that take up the features of the traditional masks of the group. Golden brown satin patina. Slight residue of kaolin.
The Western Pende live on the banks of the Kwilu, while the Eastern have settled on the banks of the Kasai downstream from Tshikapa. The influences of the neighboring ethnic groups, Mbla, Suku, Wongo, Leele, Kuba, and Salempasu have been imprinted on their extensive tribal art sculpture. Within this diversity the Mbuya masks, realistic ,produced every ten years, have a festive function, and embody different characters, including the chief, the diviner and his wife, the prostitute, the possessed, etc.... The masks of initiation and those of power, the ...

African Chokwe pwo masks, among the many akishi masks (sing: mukishi, indicating power) of African Chokwe tribal art, are female representations. The pwo should bring fertility and prosperity to the community. The patterns carved on the face are part of the Chokwe aesthetic canons but also served as public markers of ethnic identity. This recurring cruciform frontal motif would also carry a cosmogonic significance. Always worn by male initiates of higher rank, these feminine masks were often adorned with buttons and accessories of European origin. Teeth cut to a point used to be a criterion of beauty.
These masks were mainly worn during initiation ceremonies for the transition to adulthood, marking, among other things, the end of the privileged bond between a son and his mother. ...

Spectacular African mask used for protective purposes, it was once used by initiates of male secret societies during their initiation rites and their funerals. He was also supposed to protect circumcised young people from evil influences. This mask dances by imitating all the attitudes of the animals represented. Powerful mask, hybrid of snake, gazelle, chameleon and crocodile, intended to communicate with the spirits of the forest, it was worn obliquely on the head. Locally abraded matte polychromy. Abrasions, cracks, slight lacks.
Mixed with the Nalu and the Landuman, the Baga live along the coasts of Guinea-Bissau in areas of swamps flooded six months a year . They believe in a creator god called Nagu , Naku , whom they do not represent, and who is accompanied by a male ...

Bokyi and Idoma designed this same type of bleached masks, enhanced with scarifications, appearing during specific funeral rites. This version with altered contours presents a broad face with a rounded forehead, whose open mouth reveals sharp teeth. Colored highlights accentuate the contrasts. Thick velvety patina locally chipped.
Height on base: 37 cm.
The Idoma settled at the confluence of the Bénué and the Niger. Numbering 500,000, they are made up of farmers and traders. The neighborhood and therefore the influences of the Igbo, those of the Cross River and Igala ethnic groups have generated stylistic borrowings, and great tribal similarities. Royal lineage members of their oglinye society, glorifying courage, wear masks and crests during funerals and festivities. They ...

Collection of French African art.
Intended to unmask sorcerers, this type of African mask was carved on the eve of ceremonies. The austere physiognomy was meant to counter occult powers. Accompanied by words, gestures, dances and sacrifices, it also intervened during initiations out of sight of the profane. Matte grainy patina. Minimal abrasions, small chips.
The appearance of these masks generally coated with kaolin (the white color evokes the power of the ancestors), in the middle of the night, could cause terror. This type of mask was used by the ngil male society which no longer exists today. This secret society was in charge of initiations and fought against witchcraft. The ngil was a rite of purifying fire symbolized by the gorilla. Guarantor of peace, he also fixed ...

African Mask Kakongo or Vili. This type of mask would have been the prerogative of the nganga, diviner-priest. Thick matte polychrome patina. Cracks and abrasions.
Height on base: 47 cm.
These mediating masks, also present in initiation processes, were used by witch doctors during healing rituals. At the same time, they were also used to identify individuals who, through their actions, could disturb the harmony of the community. In the 13th century, the Kongo people, led by their king Ne Kongo, settled in a region at the crossroads of the borders between the current DRC, Angola and Gabon. The "ntotela" king controlled the appointment of court and provincial officials.

Symbolizing the wild buffalo, the African mask panya ngombe adopts a stretched, stylized form. The ears, framing long horizontal eyelids, spring out in a point towards the outer corners, conferring a dynamic. The contours are indented with decorative diamond patterns. Copies larger than required by the tribal canon were intended to be hung in the chief's hut, and logically did not present any internal signs of use. Matte black patina. Height on base: 31 cm.
The western Pende live on the banks of the Kwilu, while the eastern people have settled on the banks of the Kasai downstream from Tshikapa. The influences of neighboring ethnic groups, Mbla, Suku, Wongo, Leele, Kuba and Salempasu imprinted on their large tribal art sculpture. Within this diversity, the Mbuya masks, realistic, ...

Deformity in African tribal art .
Better known than the anthropomorphic sculptures of the Pende, the Mbangu "disease" masks, known as " nosomorphic" masks, illustrate, by their deformed features, the patient in an epileptic seizure or the result of a facial paralysis caused by witchcraft rituals.
In many tribal cultures, epilepsy would be perceived as a divine seal on an individual able to communicate in this way with the spiritual world.
In addition to his face with the features of the Mbangu mask, the figure is flanked by a bulbous goiter and his attitude indicates abdominal pain. Raffia belts and an anklet made of seeds emphasize the sculpture. Crusty patina.
The Pende Westerners live on the banks of the Kwilu, while the Easterners have settled ...

African mask of "reduced size, intended for entertainment ceremonies and which can therefore, according to the Baule tradition, be seen by women. The streaks of the hairstyle represent braids, the traditional scarifications called "ngole" underline traits. Chipped matte patina.
Height on base: 36 cm.
These portrait masks of the Baoulé, Kpwan, which are part of one of the oldest Baoulé artistic traditions and frequently represent an idealized character, have the particularity of appearing at the end of entertainment dance ceremonies. These are named, according to the regions, bedwo, ngblo, mblo, adjussu, etc.... Each of these masks are distinguished by the hairstyles, the location and the choice of scarifications, etc... Also called Gbagba, they personify graceful young girls ...

Heavy stylized mask associated with monkey. The projecting forehead, flanked by ears, houses a concave space incised with slits for the eyes. Horizontal elements indicate the jaw. Oiled, velvety surface.
Erosions.
The Ko mask of the Dogon is one of three types of monkey masks: Dege figures a baboon, and the Ko and Omono masks depict thrush monkeys .
The monkeys feed on the fruit of the baobab tree and the ears of millet that they steal from the fields. This tribal mask was worn with a skirt made of sansevière fibers that concealed the dancer . The dancer's choreography was accompanied by warnings.
More than eighty types of Dogon masks are listed, of which the best known are the Kanaga, Sirigé, Satimbé, Walu. Most of them are used by the circumcised ...

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A serene softness distinguishes the Punu masks. The latter, wearing braids gathered in a shell and encircled with a hood, offers delicately drawn eyebrows highlighting bulbous, half-closed eyelids and prominent lips lifted with red ocher. Velvety matte patina, abrasions.br>

Among more than eighty types of African masks that have been recorded among the Dogon, this large-scale animal face mask embodies the buffalo, whose strength it symbolizes.
Sacrificial crusty patina, dry, locally flaking. Cracks of desiccation. Height on base: 86 cm.
The Dogon people are renowned in African tribal art for the myths and beliefs relating to their cosmogony.
The population is estimated at about 300,000 souls living southwest of the Niger loop in the Mopti region of Mali (Bandiagara, Koro, Banka), near Douentza and part of northern Burkina (northwest of Ouahigouya).They produce more than 80 types of masks, the best known of which are the Kanaga , Sirigé , Satimbé , Walu . Most of them are used by the circumcised initiates of the Awa society, during ...

Dogon mask of undetermined type, whose features are carved in a rather figurative way. A helmet frames the face, where sits a frail sculpted subject, linked to a being of the Dogon cosmogony, an ancestor or a spirit. Irregular surface, matte brown patina. Erosions and cracks.
More than eighty types of Dogon masks are listed, the best known of which are the Kanaga, Sirigé, Satimbé, Walu. Most of them are used by circumcised initiates of the Awa society, during funeral ceremonies. The Awa designates the masks, their costumes, and all the Dogons in the service of the masks. Some evoke animals, in reference to the rich cosmogony and mythology of African Dogon art. The "nyama", the mask's vital force, is activated by various rituals in order to develop the object's full magical ...

Sculpture whose curved center forms a support for divination techniques. Its janiform iconography, in relation to kifwebe masks, symbolizes a double question: with regard to the world of the living, and towards ancestors. Medium brown patina, desication cracks.

The Songye and the neighbouring ethnic groups share many institutions, including those related to divinatory rites. Thus in some areas luba songye-style sculptures were dedicated to divination techniques. The nganga will interpret the signs of movement of objects placed on the flat surface and rubbed on the support, in order to propose a solution to the misfortunes of its client.
Sye came from the Shaba region of the DRC and settled between the Lualaba River and the Sankuru River in the middle of the savannah and ...

Belgian African art collection.
Emblems of prestige, sculpted spoons are part of the regalia of African tribal art. This copy is distinguished by its anthropomorphic motif depicting a seated notable. This type of ritual object, an insignia of diginity, also evokes the power of the chief or the clan.

Height on base: 52 cm.
Glossy black-brown patina, desication cracks.
The Vili , the Lâri, the Sûndi, the Woyo, the Bembe, the Bwende, the Yombé and the Kôngo formed the Kôngo group, led by King ntotela . Their kingdom reached its peak in the 16th century with the trade in ivory, copper and the slave trade. With the same beliefs and traditions, they produced statuary endowed with codified gestures in keeping with their vision of the world.
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The face masks of the akweya group, district of Akpa also called Okua, are mainly used during funerals of notorieties. The Idoma of the South, like the Igbo of the North, use masks of this type, many of whose characteristics have been borrowed from the Bokyi. Our copy, bleached with kaolin, would be of the ikpobi category, intended for young men, and formerly linked to war ceremonies. Height on base: 44 cm.
Abraded matte patina, cracks.
The Idoma, who are probably descendants of the Akopo, live at the confluence of the Bénué and the Niger. Numbering 500,000, they are farmers and traders. There are Igbo, Cross River and Igala influences in their art and customs and it is often difficult to distinguish them from their neighbours. The royal lineage members of their oglinye ...

Figurative panel carved with symbolic naturalist motifs, aimed at protecting the chief's house. Represented naked, the female figure presents the half-closed female gaze, named "zanze". These statues were usually part of a fertility cult and were kept in a room in the chief's house.
Medium brown satin patina.
Desication cracks and abrasions.

The Western Pende live on the banks of the Kwilu, while the Eastern settled on the banks of the Kasaï downstream from Tshikapa. The influences of neighboring ethnic groups, Mbla, Suku, Wongo, Leele, Kuba and Salempasu imprinted on their large tribal art sculpture. Within this diversity, the Mbuya masks, realistic, produced every ten years, take on a festive function, and embody different characters, including ...

Collection of French tribal art. Realistic mask adapted to the human face, seeking to reproduce, among the range of celebrities, characters or mythical heroes involved in Mexican theatrical dances and carnivals, the features of an ancient actor named Pedro Infante, famous in Mexican culture. The surface is carefully painted with brilliant polychrome tones.

African figure rising in a narrow column punctuated by surfaces in circular trays. The subject with a face offering low relief is seated, an object on his knees. Light dry patina, dark residues of ritual practices, erosions.
Carved for the most part to order placed by a family, the Dogon statues can also be the object of worship on the part of the whole community when they commemorate, for example, the foundation of the village. However, their functions remain little known. Alongside Islam, Dogon religious rites are organized around four main cults: the Lébé, relating to fertility, under the spiritual authority of the Hogon, the Wagem, ancestor worship under the authority of the patriarch, the Binou invoking the spirit world and led by the priest of the Binou, and the society of ...